King of Hearts
by Omikami Kazegami
Summary: Juno has problems. The Organisation wants him dead, there are millions of Heartless throughout the worlds, and some kid with a big key is reducing his chances of redemption. What is a Nobody to do? This is an alternate retelling of the second half of KH2.
1. Chapter 1

_Well, this is my first ever proper Fanfic. I started writing it a while ago, and began writing it again a couple of weeks back._

_Now, while I DO have KH2, I haven't played it for a while. So while every effort has been made to keep the descriptions of events, places, and characters as accurate as possible, please forgive any innaccuracies._

_Onward!:_

**Slash!**

Hmph. That one's not mine.

I'm doing what I do every day. I'm killing Heartless.

Whoop, there's another one! A Soldier Heartless jumps at me, lunging at my jugular. I bring my blade up to meet its red claws, sparks flying as its balance is shattered. The Soldier goes careening off into the distance, landing metres away.

" Firaga!"

A bolt of fire arcs from the tip of my Keyblade, searing the air as it thuds into the armoured chest of the Heartless. It dissipates into shadow, the heart contained within floating skyward. It's not mine. I didn't expect it to be.

I'm not given too long to contemplate this, as a Neo Shadow sneaks along the floor, two-dimensional. It enters the third dimension, winding up to take a swing at me. It soon finds a Keyblade lodged in its ribcage. Damn straight. But there's more. Many, many more, in fact. All shadows and Neo Shadows, but still way too many in my opinion.

The kid gloves are off.

My thumb slides along the hand-guard, pushing loose the catch located at its edge. I swing the Keyblade, and with a rattle, the long chain held within the hollow blade swings free. The chain, about the length of the blade itself, is tipped with a bladed spike. Instantly, the spike coils itself around the blade, forming a helix, floating around the Keyblade and spinning slowly. The spike almost grazes my wrist when it goes by. By it's own volition, the chain lunges straight from the tip of my outstretched blade, planting itself in a Shadow. See, the Chainblade portion of my Keyblade responds directly to my will. As such, it can move independently of the rest of the weapon. It's pretty neato. Within seconds the whole group has been killed, victims of Dusk's Obsession (My Keyblade) and its Chainblade attachment. I sense another a ways behind me.

I swing my Keyblade to my back, extending the Chainblade straight out. The wet thud I hear means it's connected well. I turn my head, and my eyes widen. I killed a Dusk.

The familiar black ellipsis of blackness from behind me indicates their presence. I look straight ahead.

" Well, look who it is!"

" Hello, Demyx." I sigh.

I never joined the Organization. They asked me to, but I didn't. Partly because it's didn't suit me to get _any old _heart, but mostly because they wanted me to change my name to Uxnoj. Seriously.

" What do you want, Demyx?"

" Aww, no small talk?" Sarcastic bastard.

" You know I miss your sparkling conversational skills, bud, but I really have no time. So I ask you again, what do you want?"

" The Organization wants me to stop you."

" Don't flatter yourself. You could never take me out. So you must have another reason for coming here." As I say this I swing the Chainblade to the side, dispatching a water clone with ease.

" Nope, I gotta take you down, Juno."

" You gotta try, you mean." I notice Demyx has brought his Sitar, " Who fights with a musical instrument? Had the Organization already handed out the _useful _weapons when you joined?" I wheel around to face him for the first time. He certainly looked determined. I guess it's time to fight…

Dusk's Obsession lunges independently, the Chainblade straight in front of it. It almost touches Demyx. It wants bloodshed. The ornate gilded silver edges of the ancient weapon glint in the rising moonlight. The prongs of the blade, a mishmash of wings and fangs are down turned, seemingly eager to end a life. Unlike other Keyblade wielders, I had to work for mine. It's original owner, a man of twenty, had tried to kill me with it. I defeated him, and the Keyblade transferred itself to me. Dusk's Obsession, you see, recognises power as a test of worth. It follows those with the strength to wield it properly. With it, I began to formulate my plan.

I leap high into the air, bringing my Keyblade to bear. As gravity takes hold, I push myself off from a rocky outcrop, launching myself at Demyx. He brings his sitar in front of him, my blade clanging near silently against the neck of the instrument. My feet planted firmly either side of it, I propel myself back into the air, frost forming on the tip of my outstretched weapon.

" _Blizzaga!"_

A ball of cold shoots from the Keyblade. Demyx jumps slightly, the frost impacting where his feet used to be. Idiot. He lands on the ground that is now slick with a layer of ice. Within seconds he is sprawled on the floor. By now I've landed, walked over to where he is, and raised my blade.

Blackness envelops him, dragging him away from my swing.

Demyx clearly realises he's outclassed. His last words to me echo through the air;

" I'm still gunning for you, Juno!"

I'm not too scared by this.

My name is Juno Kizaki. At least, that's what it used to be, when I was human. I am a Nobody. And a damn good one, it seems. I retained my human form, but I'd lost my very soul. Something is clearly missing. A life devoid of emotions just doesn't suit me. So I'm searching to get my original heart back, with the help of Dusk's Obsession. This Keyblade carries the ability to inter a heart back into a heartless body. Like mine. My mission is simple enough; Search for and eliminate Heartless until I find the one made from my heart. Then, use Dusk's Obsession to restore it to my body. Only then will I be whole again.

You don't have a mental picture of me. Come to think of it, who _am _I writing to? Oh well… I am tall, I forget just how tall. My eyes, once blue, are now yellow for some reason, and I have black hair, short cropped around my head. Currently I am wearing a black trench coat, with a similarly black shirt underneath. And jeans, which I find are something of a rarity throughout the worlds. So there you go, that's me.

I watch the sun rise, the warm glowing ball of light cresting Hollow Bastion's horizon. I've never liked the sun, I like it even less now that I'm lacking a heart. Still, I sense something… unusual in the air. Some strange tension, almost a premonition of some future conflict. I sniff the air; Nothing out of the ordinary, and Lord knows my nose could smell it if there was. Something different, as if the boundaries of the World were being compromised. An outsider is coming.

I enjoy watching the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. They give me a welcome break from hunting Heartless. But something is wrong. There is a strong smell of Heartless in the air. It pervades the atmosphere, a…. a stench of …_wrongness._ An alien smell, that no matter how many times I encounter it, it never becomes natural. The entire Committee rushes out of the home of the wizard, Merlin. They can sense it too.

From a distance, I follow the group, and- _Holy SHIT! _

Thousands of Heartless swarm the ruins at the edge of the town, around the blue rock plains. The mother load. Jackpot. Without hesitation I dive into the swarm, swinging my hand behind me, the Keyblade snaps into being, pulled from the ether by some mysterious link. The Chainblade rattled in the hollow shaft of Dusk's Obsession. It wouldn't be prudent to release it yet. I land, my Keyblade stretched in front of me, cleaving a waiting Shadow in two. It's heart floats away. Not mine. Oh well, there's still several thousand left. But my current thoughts are on the hundred or so facing me now.

I dive, spin and slash, throwing myself through the Heartless' ranks. I land several metres away. In unison, maybe twenty Heartless dissipate into shadow, hearts that aren't mine floating free. I click free the Chainblade, allowing it to spin above my head, before slamming it down into the nearest target. Still not my heart…

Still on the ground, I spin the Keyblade 360 degrees, slicing a whole lot of feet. Here's a fun fact: Seems Heartless die if you cut off their feet. A curtain of shadow surrounds me. Surveying the scene, I notice that all the Heartless I've axed so far have been replaced. Time to beat a hasty retreat…

_Jump!_

And I'm away. I rise higher and higher, waiting for a handhold or platform to land on. Oh poop. I'm sinking… Gravity is a _bitch._ The swarms of Heartless converge on my landing point, stretching upwards, waiting with outstretched claws for my impending arrival. I point my Keyblade straight down, into the heart of the crowd.

" FIRAGA!"

A massive bolt of fire leaps from the tip of my Keyblade, slamming into the swarm. They scatter in a wave of fire and darkness. I land in the centre of this, it's all very dramatic. This time, I jump _forward, _up and over the black swarm. Wall jumping, I leap back over the swarm again, aiming for an edge on the opposite wall. Just for fun, I point Dusk's Obsession skyward:

" Thundaga!"

Bolts of lightning impact into the swarm, hearts (not mine) floating upwards. Landing, I jerk forwards a little at the impact. I start to run. I stop before the area lovingly called the Great Maw. There are a large number of Armoured Knight and Surveillance Robot Heartless gathered in the Maw, crammed from wall to wall in the blue valley.

My eyes are drawn to the centre of the writhing mass, where some shit seems to be going down. A man… no, a boy, is jumping through the swarm, slicing through Heartless viciously. Fighting at his side are…. Huh, that's really weird… He's-… He's fighting with a duck and a dog. They're clearly outsiders.

Suddenly, Dusk's Obsession jerks in my hand, pointing at the boy, almost tearing out of my hand as it struggles to reach him. I study the boy intently, wondering why. Then I notice his weapon. It's a Keyblade. He's a wielder, just like me… Wait! That means…

The fundamental rule of using Dusk's heart reclamation ability is that my Keyblade needs to have a connection with the heart before I can take it. This doesn't mean I need to _kill _the Heartless to reclaim it's heart, but I do need to come into contact with it. And this _boy _is stealing these hearts from me, reducing my chances of finding mine…. If he gets hold of my Heartless counterpart before I do, it's over… A lifetime of incompleteness…

I need to stop this. My eyes wander over the Heartless army, I pick a spot fairly far away from the fighting party, and dive towards it. Gravity closes around me, and I fall towards the spot at an alarming rate. I probably should have thought of that before I jumped… Oh well. Pointing the Keyblade out in front of me, I slam into the ground, my blade impaling itself into the dirt. I flip, landing softly on the blue dirt, swinging Dusk out of the ground. As luck would have it, I'd actually impaled a Heartless on impact. I swing my weapon, slicing clean through a Surveillance Robot.

Slowly, I carve a path of slaughter towards the other wielder, taking care to inspect each heart, to see if it matched. Course, none of 'em do, but it doesn't hurt. As I approach, I can hear the sounds of battle. I draw in closer, and I can catch a glimpse of the struggle of the others. The duck raises a staff, calling a name as a focuser.

" Sora!"

A green nimbus encircles the boy, the signs of a Cure spell.

Sora…

So we work to destroy the Heartless, one unaware of the other, both equally successful. Ironically, this… Sora wouldn't have survived without my intervention. There were simply too many, and more and more were flooding into the Great Maw every minute. Soon, the area was almost devoid of Heartless. There were only two left. Sore spins, axing one. The other steps up from behind him, aiming a swing. I roll my eyes, sigh, point my Keyblade, and focus on a particular point in the air:

" Magnega!"

The Heartless was dragged into the air, floating in one spot, spinning slowly. A quick jump and a slash on my part was all it took. Sora spins to look me in the eye.

" Oh! Uh, thanks…"

" Don't worry about it." I point Dusk right at him.

" A Keyblade?!" The dog exclaims…. The only word I can use to describe it is goofily.

" Yeah." I can't help but allow my indignation to show on my face. " Let me get straight to the point. Stop killing Heartless. Until I get my heart back, they're _all _mine."

" Huh?! W-wait a minute… Until you get your heart back? You're a-"

" A Nobody, yes. One without a soul. I'm getting my heart back, one way or the other. When you kill Heartless, you're stealing their hearts. If you kill the one who has MY heart, I can't get it back. So _stop killing Heartless."_

" We can't do that!" The duck burbles.

" Look, you're going to stop stealing my kills. Either you stop voluntarily, or I'll stop you myself. I swear to god, I'm not above kicking your asses, children."

Sore crouches into a battle stance, and the duck and dog draw weapons.

" Ugh. Fine." I launch myself at Sora.

Our blades collide, sparks flying. I notice something. Three against one wouldn't _normally _be fair. With me, however, it's unbalanced in the other direction. I unlock the Chainblade, hurling my arm backwards. Both duck and dog are thrown backwards. Interestingly, they both get back up. I figure the best strategy would be to get airborne, so I throw myself skyward. What follows is a complex fight, one that shows a defiant hatred of gravity. From beginning to end, my feet never touch the ground. I would fall, attack an opponent with all my strength, which would propel me upwards when my enemies blocked. I soon lost track of time, it didn't really matter. I concentrated on the rhythm of the battle: Attack, bounce, drop. That's all that really mattered then. Dropping in to attack Sora again, I glimpse a flash of light, and..._ OOF!_

_Blackness..._


	2. The way Forward

When I come to, it's midday. Sora and his menagerie are nowhere to be seen. They left me for dead! Cheeky gits!

My head hurts. I get up gingerly, my spine cracking painfully. Something is wrong….

" Juno! You're looking a little worse for wear!"

" Oh god dammit Demyx! This is NOT the time!"

I spin to glare at-… oh.

" That's… uh… that's quite a lot of Dusks you've got there Demyx…"

" Why yes, yes it is! I _said _I was still gunning for you."

" Demyx I don't have time for this! " I yell, dashing towards him. " " FIRAGA!"

Fire bursts from my Keyblade, obliterating several Dusks. The original swing hits Demyx full force in the torso. He's hurled back, impacting into the rock wall behind him. I swing loose the Chainblade, smashing a Dusks face in (Which is easier than it sounds, because they have no bones). A jet of water rushes at me. Duck! The cascade hits a group of Nobodies, which had snuck up behind me, ready to take a swing. Cheeky…. Uh, jumpsuits… Yeah… I have a surge of inspiration.

I point Dusk straight into the stream:

" _Blizzaga!_"

Frost and cold shoot straight into the water, freezing it solid, like it would in a video game or something…

Anyway. The Keyblade is still lodged in the ice. Just what I wanted. I pull, shattering the delicate ice. Shards of the stuff rain down on me and my enemies. I dive to the side, avoiding the worst of it. The remaining Nobodies, however, don't fair quite as well. Many of them are killed outright, and I know a chance to escape when I see it.

I flee, jumping up onto an outcrop, before ducking away, leaving Demyx' s line of sight. I need to get far away. I head towards the Dark Depths. Admittedly, it IS fairly close to the Great Maw, but it'll do. I walk in from the Depths only entrance, and-… Oh, there's someone here. A man, lean and tall, with flowing silver hair, and a black-feathered wing on his right shoulder. He's armed too, a sword longer than he is tall, and thin. But I don't doubt it, and it's wielder, are incredibly strong. He seems to sense my approach, turning to face me:

" Hmm? Oh, you're a… Nobody, aren't you? What do you want?" With this he brings his sword to bear. We're separated by several metres, but the sword almost reaches me. Swinging my arm, I summon Dusk's Obsession.

" You wanna fight, is that it? Think you can take me on? Just try, I'm in the mood for a rumble!" I'm a little ticked.

" That's an unusual sword you have there. "

" Yeah, it's a Keyblade. Pretty special, huh? Still wanna take me on?"

" Oh, a Keyblade? So, it chose you, did it? I wonder if it won't begin to regret its decision once I defeat you."

" Oh, so you _do _want to fight? Fine. YAAAAH!" With a battle cry I launch myself at the strange silver haired enemy.

Oh no, I forgot the length of the sword. I have little time to act. He blocks my opening slash, pivoting his sword edge along Dusk's blade to try and cut my arm off. I jump onto the blade of his sword, but he flips the blade into the air with surprising strength, catapulting me upwards. I am unable to control my ascent, and eventual descent.

Hoping to throw him off guard, I free the Chainblade, swinging it downwards at his pretty boy face. Ugly him up some was what I was thinking. His sword is already in a defensive position, the chain wrapping several times around the cold steel of his extremely long sword. Mr. Silver Hair wrenches his sword around. The chain snaps! My Keyblade almost screams in anguish at its disfigurement. It struggles to reach my opponent, enraged and baying for his blood. But I barely notice. I can't believe it. He… He broke my Keyblade.

" W-what are you?!" I stammer.

" My _name _is Sephiroth, if that's what you mean." He lunges at me, sword trailing behind him.

I jump straight up, and he turns 90 degrees vertically, following me into the air. I always thought that kind of stuff was physically impossible. He slashes at me, and I block, but I'm totally unprepared for the strength he'd put into the swing. I am thrown backwards, into the wall. It crumples beneath me, and I keep going. I finally come to a stop, in a nice new cave several metres deep. I'm in a great deal of pain.

Planting my feet into the back wall of my freshly made hole, I shoot out of the burrow, attempting to put together a swing at Sephiroth. My blade misses entirely, and the hilt of his sword collides painfully with my ribs. I'm sent sprawling to the edge of the Dark Depths, overlooking a ruined castle. I attempt to rise, but the sword my opponent carries is directed into my neck.

" A pathetic effort." Sephiroth almost smiles smugly. _Almost._

" SHUT UP! GRAAH!" I swing my arm, and-… the Keyblade disappears from my hand. My eyes widen, shocked to the core. My Keyblade reappears, but this time in Sephiroths' right hand.

" What…" My voice sounded so feeble, filled with incredulity. But I already know what had taken place. Dusk's Obsession acknowledges only strength as criteria for its wielder. It thought that Sephiroth was stronger than me.

It's over. My mission is over. My only objective in life. It's all over…

" Hmm. It seems your Keyblade has re-evaluated it's choice of wielder." Smug…

I feel something new. Something I haven't felt in a long time. Something I've never felt to this degree. _Rage. _How dare he steal MY Keyblade? How dare he interrupt MY goals?! He attacks me unprovoked… My features contort with anger. My fists clench, tearing rents into the solid rock beneath me.

" I won't allow it to end like this." I whisper.

" Hmm? Some last words, perhaps?"

" **_I WON'T LET IT END LIKE THIS!_**"

My open palm collides with Sephiroths' chest, sending him careening back into the wall. I stand, my upper body limp. My hand reaches up to the back of my neck, grasping the hilt of the weapon I wielded before the Keyblade. A double-bladed Souba sword.

" **_GIVE IT BACK TO ME!"_** I roar, my voice filled with an inhuman anger. It even sounded unfamiliar to me.

" Such strength…" Sephiroth didn't even sound fazed by my sudden transformation.

" **_GRAAAH!" _**I throw myself at Sephiroth, who raises his blade in defence.

I strike the blade right out of his hand. It flies through the air and embeds itself up to the hilt in a rock wall on the other side of the cliff. Incredible, for a blade of such length. I flip around, kicking Sephiroth in the face with the heel of my right foot.. Sephiroth goes flying in the same direction as his sword did moments before. He stabs his fingers into the ground, slowing his flight enough so that he doesn't end up in the wall too. He sits sprawled on the floor, trying to get upright. I don't intend to give him that chance. Hovering, I throw myself at Sephiroth, my feet at the height of his head. I punt him in the face, kicking him back into the wall. The rock buckles, but doesn't break under his weight. I scream along the wall, closing the distance between Sephiroth and myself. Pointing my Souba into his neck, my rage almost forces me to kill him, and I would, if at that moment my Keyblade hadn't re-appeared in my hand.

My face is contorted in a grotesque mask of rage and madness, my hands shaking with the promise of bloodshed. I raise my newly returned Keyblade, slashing it downwards… At the last moment, Sephiroth teleports away. My blade contacts with the rock wall, shattering several metres of rocks, the new rubble falling in a pile at my feet. Without an enemy to fight, and with my Keyblade returned, the rage subsides. Slowly clarity returns to my mind, and my muscles relax. My hands shake with exhaustion now, my strength spent from the Herculean effort I had just enacted.

I sheath my Souba, ready to drop. Suddenly, though, my arm is raised, the Keyblade forcing it into the air. I sense it's need to change, to heal itself from its disfigurement. Lights extend from the handle of the weapon, winding themselves around the blade and up, attaching to the winged and fanged prongs at the end. For several moments the ancient weapon is obscured from sight, the light surrounding it radiating experience and old knowledge. The light slowly dims, revealing something new. The Keyblade, now black with gold trim, is a new weapon. The hollowed blade of the original is gone, now it sports a thick and strong edge, both old and new. The pronged end, no longer a chaotic mess of wings and fangs, sports an odd new motif. Two feathered wings, exquisite in detail, form the outer edges of the prong. The inner portion is a row of fearsome fangs, some overlapping the wings, others curved inward, seemingly ready to feast. The handle of the blade is ebony, veined with gold. Curved from the blade, and terminating in a slight angle at the end of the newly forged weapon. It is no longer the weapon I had wielded up to this point. It is a new and dangerous weapon: The New Dawn. This is the name that the weapon whispered into my mind.

I give the weapon an experimental swing. It sings through the air, much smoother than it's original form.

" Cool."

I stop, thinking of recent events. The rage that had taken possession of my form, it was an alien sensation. Nobodies are unable to feel emotions. How could I feel such anger? I was certainly not fooling myself. I had definitely felt it. The inhuman strength I had felt was proof of that. I suppose it is no matter. Such a thing is proof of progress, proof of steady reclamation of my human state. It is a good thing.

And where does my path lead now? I must find Sora; stop him from using that Key of his. A sense of wrongness pervades the air, a sign of a break in the border of the world, one that had not yet fully closed. Someone had recently travelled out of the world, away from Hollow Bastion. I can assume it is Sora, as no one within this world has the power to travel out of it. Perhaps I can follow the trail left by his means of exiting the Bastion, if it has not run cold. Raising a hand, I tense my palm once, and a shadowy oval appears in front of me, a corridor of Darkness, and a path between worlds. I allow my mind to wander through it, searching for a trail of energy, Sora's trail. There! A distinct path out of Hollow Bastion!

I trot into the corridor, picturing the trail of green energy in my minds eye. In an instant I am in another world. I stand on an oval platform, drab and devoid of colour. Grey water surrounds it, stretching out in every direction. Three paths are visible, one leading down, darkness encroaching from it. Another leads up, stairs that seemingly stretch to the lofty heavens, white clouds and light sweeping through it. The last path is open, but I can easily sense that it leads nowhere useful. The path of light does not suit me; rarely does light suit me anymore…

So I choose the path leading down, towards the very bowels of this earth. Perhaps I can find Sora there, or someone who knows were the boy is. The stairs go on seemingly forever, the path lit only by a sickly blue light. I wander the path, which eventually opens into a slight decline. A thick white mist flows along the floor, heading towards the bowels of this dungeon. All of a sudden, Heartless appear, Rabid Dogs and Minute Bombs. I begin to speed along the path, killing every Heartless in my path with a single swing of my Keyblade. Each heart yielded is unfamiliar to me, a disappointment that has become dulled to me. Eventually I reach the end of the sloping, misty path, which leads on to a cavernous chamber, corrupt green light swirling up from below, a single, precarious path leading ahead. It is a wonder it stays upright, rather that simply falling into the green goo below.

I fight my way along this path, killing Heartless left and right. When I reach the end of the path, a feeling of foreboding fills me, as if I shouldn't continue through the opening roughly hewn from the rock wall. Whatever lurks beyond it is bad news, my mind tells me. I've never been one to trust those feelings. So I enter the cave, which is much nicer than the rather _dark _caverns preceding it. A… man? Is man the right word? Well… he was blue, rather thin, with blue flaming hair. He was wearing a black robe, which was rather swish.

" What? Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" He sounded like a lawyer.

" Seen a boy called Sora around?" I don't have time to mess around.

" Sora? Sora?!" Mr Smurf swishes his hand, and a dozen Heartless appear. I channel all my will into Dawn, slashing horizontally with the weapon. A streak of energy flies free of the blade, slicing through every Heartless there, quick as can be. Heh, it was awesome. You should've been there.

" Only" I say, continuing unfazed by his rather unfriendly reaction, " I'm looking to stop him, to take him down."

" _Really?" _Mr Blue looks interested now, " Then maybe I can help you. Names Hades, Lord of the Dead. Pleased to meet ya. And you are..?"

" Juno Kizaki, Nobody extraordinaire and Keyblade wielder." I can sense a kindred spirit in the Lord of the Dead, and I smile at him. Is that sad, do you think? That the Lord of the Dead strikes me as charming?

" Ah, good name. Very… Oriental. But, ah, whaddaya say we get right down to business, eh? Cut ourselves a little deal?"

" Well, what did you have in mind?" I'm certainly intrigued by his sudden change.

" Well, you do something for me, and I help you out in return. Simple as one, two, three, everyone's happy. Sound good to you?"

" Give me details. I'm not agreeing to anything without knowing what exactly it is."

" Well, ever heard of Hercules?" Hades asks, a smile playing over his lips.


End file.
